Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 298 First Weekend Box Office Multiplier

   More than two months have passed since Ronald completed the filming of the film and returned to Los Angeles from the "Old Boy" set in the small town of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

   The filming of "Ultra World" has ended. I followed Coppola on the set and watched his series of methods for directing actors, which was very beneficial.

Coppola can be said to have turned directing into an art, from the beginning of casting, to rehearsal, to the last word with the actor before directing, every move in the whole process is presented on the film for the final actor image is ready.

   His bag seems to be full of normal and abnormal tricks, each of which makes the actor's performance even better.

   Ronald re-rented a clean motel in Los Angeles, and began to sort out his insights from the past two months. This is the master's experience that he can learn from when he directs.

   But there is not much time left for him to organize his notes, and the release time of "Fast-Paced Richmond High School" is coming soon.

   Six weeks in advance, Universal's distribution department began to find producer Lin Sen, Azov, director Ronald, and several leading actors to discuss the timing of the film's marketing.

   “That’s about it, we don’t have much marketing budget to put into it. In addition to intensive interviews with newspapers in Los Angeles and New York, there is also a focus on Dallas, Texas.

   There's Barbie Wygant's interview with the star on NBC Five, one of the few movie-related TV shows that is syndicated across the country. Our three leading actors will be interviewed by her. "

  A director of Universal Distribution is introducing the distribution plan to the two producers and Ronald.

"We've had a couple of major regional distributors look at the prints, and they've had mixed reviews for the quality of the film, with buyers on the west coast preferring it, and the east coast and south-central have some **** for nudity, but it's more of a box office hit. optimistic.

   They are all willing to release 'Fast Pace' on July 16, five weeks after Universal's 'ET Alien'. In this way, our marketing work will generally start in mid-June, with various TV programs, newspaper media interviews, and exclusive interviews with professional magazines.

  I heard that you yourself contacted David Letterman's The Late Show to have guest Brooke Shields on the show to talk about the 'fast-paced' movie, which is also very good news for our film.

   In short, this is our marketing arrangement in advance. Just waiting for the national box office results in the first weekend, the average first weekend multiplier of a youth romantic comedy is about four times, and if the audience likes it, it may be rushed to six times. "

   "What is the first weekend multiplier?" Ronald sat in a chair, heard a term he didn't understand, and secretly asked the producer Lin Sen.

"Our director is directing a theatrical feature film for the first time. This is his debut. Can you help explain the opening weekend box office multiplier and some basic knowledge about distribution?" Lin Sen raised his hand to speak and asked about the distribution director.

   "My question. Didn't expect this to be the first film directed by Ronald Lee, I want to congratulate you.

The    First Weekend Multiplier is a method we use to estimate the box office of a movie. It is a number obtained by dividing the total box office of the movie by the box office of the first weekend of its release.

   In this way, when we get the box office numbers for the first weekend, we can roughly estimate the box office performance of the entire movie. It is convenient to adjust the follow-up screening plan and the release time of other movies.

  You know, since last year's 'Heaven's Gate' tragedy, both print and TV media have been very keen to compare weekly box office numbers.

   Audiences are also starting to choose which movies they go to the cinema based on their weekly box office rankings. This makes our opening weekend multiplier even more important. "

"Uh, thank you. Could you please elaborate a little more, why the first weekend multiplier becomes important, I'm a complete layman in film distribution." Ronald knew that he didn't understand, and he wasn't afraid to show his timidity, so he simply asked in more detail. .

   "Very good question. You know, every movie a movie theater puts on, there is a cost? So what is the cost?"

   "I think it should be electricity, copy rental, cleaners, and ticket inspectors, right?"

   "It can be seen that Director Ronald is a person who often goes to the movies, but in addition to these, the more important thing is the box office of other movies.

   For example, if there are two movies, let's compare 'Annie', which is currently showing, with 'Grease 2'.

  Grease 2' was released on a large scale last weekend, with a box office of 4.6 million in the first weekend, while the large-scale release of 'Annie' this week is very strong. How do movie theaters decide which movies should be given more release time? "

   "I think I will compare the box office results of the two films to decide?" Ronald replied.

"Bingo! This is the concept of opportunity cost in economics. Grease 2's average single-house box office is less than $2,000 this week. Since Annie's release, the average single-house box office has been more than $4,500, so movie theaters will increase 'Annie' 'The show, put more prime time to 'Annie'.

  Our distributor will give a multiplier based on the genre of the film, the ratings of film critics, and the evaluation of live audiences to estimate the box office performance of the entire film.

   For example, 'Grease 2', Roger Ebert gave it only two stars, the audience rating was B-, and it was a sequel, so we can only estimate a multiplier of 3.5.

   And the Broadway adaptation of the musical 'Annie', the critics and audience's ratings are much higher than 'Grease 2', we can safely give a multiplier of 6 or more. "

   Ronald nodded, indicating that he understood. The first weekend box office multiplier is actually an empirical formula for the distribution department to estimate the final box office, which is roughly judged by film critics, audience ratings, film types, and experience.

The higher the    multiplier, the longer the movie will be in theaters and the theaters will be willing to show it, so the final total box office will be higher.

   Of course, after ten weeks, after switching to long-run screenings, the movie theater’s share will be much higher than in the first few weeks. Except for the unexpectedly good total box office figures, it actually doesn’t mean much to the studio’s revenue.

   Is "Grease 2" such a bad box office result? Ronald knew that Paramount had invested $6 million in "Grease 2," plus $6 million from record label owner Robert Sterwood's own pocket. The total cost of production was $12 million, plus marketing expenses.

   If the first weekend box office is 4.6 million times the multiplier of 3.5, the box office may not even be able to match the total cost. In that case, Michelle Pfeiffer's big-screen debut was a failure.

  Ronald picked up the Chicago Sun on the table, where Albert sneered at the plot and actor of "Grease 2" in the column, but said a few good words from Michelle Pfeiffer. Maybe her agent Limato handled it.

  Ronald put the thought of worrying about others behind him for a while, and now is the time to worry about his own debut, "Fast-Paced Richmond High."

   "Then what is the first weekend multiplier for our movie?" Producer Lin Sen asked Ronald the most concerned question.

"Our movie was released in mid-July, when the momentum of 'Annie' and 'ET Alien' should have diminished a little, and the fast-paced audience test score was B+ again, so we conservatively gave it a 4.5-6 multiplier between."

"If you can get a box office of more than 4.5 million like Grease 2 in the first weekend, multiplied by the lowest 4.5, you can also break through the 20 million box office. I think that the production cost of the movie is only less than 3.5 million. , such an achievement, in any case, can give Hollywood a good impression."

  Ronald let out a sigh of relief, in this case, he would definitely be able to get the second film contract from the studio.

   The director of the distribution department saw his nervousness and raised his hand to signal to him, "According to experience, this movie will be a great success."

   "How was the premiere arranged?"

"Fast-paced is not a big production, we will not hold premieres in large theaters. But we will hold small premieres in Los Angeles and New York. At that time, some newspapers and media will also be invited to interview, and the two heroines Jennifer Jason Lee, and Phoebe Cates both agreed to attend.

   Sean Penn is a favorite among theater buyers, and he will come too. And then it's to see if you can invite Brooke Shields, who is a guest star, and David Letterman to attend, if you can, it will create a news topic for the media, which will be a great benefit to our first weekend box office. "

"Give me the time and place of the event, and I'll invite you. In addition, leave me some tickets in New York, and I'll invite my family and friends to see it. The same goes for Los Angeles." Ronald thought of his family and friends in New York. Friends, this is a moment to remember.

   "Okay, no problem. I'll leave you at least ten tickets for the premiere."

   Ronald went back and prepared to go to several big cities to run marketing promotions, and relaxed his nervous mood a little. He paid attention to the situation of the competitors. The box office of "Grease 2" fell sharply in the second week, and it was about to be released around the corner.

   Next week will be the release date of "ET Aliens" from the same Universal. I heard from the director of distribution that this Spielberg film has been absolutely praised by the test audience, and has received a very rare A+ test evaluation that only comes out once a year or two.

   This gives "ET Alien" five weeks of release time, and "Fast Pace" just happened to be released on July 16th, which is in a good position for the summer season.

   And Disney's Kinneyman, looking for Matt Dillon, and Meg Tilly's "Texas", is two weeks behind his own "Fast Pace," which opens at the end of July. My own movie has a two-week advantage. Even if the quality of the other party is comparable to my own, it is a better time for me to occupy the summer season.

   And the follower of the two Israelis, "The Last American Virgin", will also be released at the end of July, which will further divide the box office of "Texas", which is also a teenage theme.

  However you look at it, you are in a very advantageous position.

  Universal Pictures is worthy of being a big company, and it is still very powerful in grabbing schedules, leaving Disney, which makes animations, far behind.

   Just when Ronald was waiting to reunite with several leading actors and flew to various places to market the movie, an unexpected incident suddenly occurred.

   (end of this chapter)